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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: face · coach · pitcher · content · mine · ground · saw · spell

  1. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. face — part of the head
  2. saw — the tool
  3. spell — magic
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. coach — a trainer
  6. ground — a position
  7. content — videos and posts
  8. mine — for digging
  9. face — to point toward
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. spell — letters
  13. content — happy
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. mine — an explosive
  17. face — to confront
  18. ground — crushed
  19. content — the amount
  20. spell — a short time
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. saw — the tool
  23. ground — the earth
  24. coach — pulled by horses

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com